Shuffle of the week #2

This is an ode to the shuffle. How better to get a good insight in your digitized album collection than by a classic shuffle? Finally discover the albums you never got into, finally throw the ones away you will never get into and worship those classics that never grow old again. The Shuffle of this week:

1.    Death Cab For Cutie – 405 (We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes, 2000) [singlepic id=47 w=80 h=50 float=left]
The shuffle started with the fifth song from the second album of this American indie rock band. Not much to add, hardly listen to their albums anymore.

2.    Pixies – Here Comes Your Man (Doolittle, 1989)
[singlepic id=53 w=80 h=50 float=left] It continued with an absolute alternative rock classic from the Pixies’ second album Doolittle. At first I thought my shuffle had hit The Beatles’ ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, using the same opening chord. The Byrds-riff that follows keeps this one a favorite.

3.    Beatles – Come Together/Dear Prudence/Cry Baby Cry (Love, 2006)
[singlepic id=45 w=80 h=50 float=left] With a small delay, the Fab Four play at last. Having the most songs of all artists in the collection, it’s no surprise to hear them again. This is the Love version of Abbey Road‘s opening track, mixed by George Martin and son. The transition to McCartney’s ‘Can you take me back where I came from’ certainly adds value to this Lennon-classic.

4.    Pink Floyd – Money (Delicate Sound Of Thunder, 1988) [singlepic id=52 w=80 h=50 float=left]
Another classic rock evergreen in an edited release, as Pink Floyd plays their Dark Side of the Moon classic live in New York. With an extended intro and solos, it contains ten minutes of guaranteed joy.

5.    Beach Boys – Here Today (Pet Sounds, 1966)
[singlepic id=44 w=80 h=50 float=left] Probably my favorite Pet Sounds track after, obviously, ‘God Only Knows’. The music written by Brian Wilson is just absolutely genius, filled up by  Tony Asher’s sad lyrics, sung by Mike Love. It starts with just a little glance now!

6.    Cotton Mather – Aurora Bori Alice (Kon Tiki, 1997)
[singlepic id=46 w=80 h=50 float=left] Now this Texan rock band deserves a much broader appreciation. This album in my opinion is one of the most refreshing guitar albums from the past 15 years. The lead singer makes you think Lennon is still alive now and then, and the guitar licks just keep coming!

 

7.    Moody Blues – House of Four Doors (In Search of the Lost Chord, 1968) [singlepic id=49 w=80 h=50 float=left]
Legendary song from a legendary album of a legendary band. Amen.

 

8.    Morrissey – You Know I Couldn’t Last (You Are The Quarry, 2004) [singlepic id=50 w=80 h=50 float=left]
Took me a while to get into The Smiths and in the end I succeeded. Curious if the same will apply to Morrissey, till now it does. It takes me a while.

 

9.    Paul McCartney & Wings – Helen Wheels (Band On The Run, 1973) [singlepic id=51 w=80 h=50 float=left]
Talking about legendary albums, huh? This track did not even appear on the UK versions as it was released as a single long before all the other hit singles kicked in. The album is without any doubt McCartney’s absolute solo masterpiece.

10.    Mogwai – Secret Pint (Rock Action, 2001) [singlepic id=48 w=80 h=50 float=left]
The shuffle closes with the closing song from the third album of Scottish post-rockers Mogwai. That album goes on the mp3 player right away, long time since I listened to it.

“And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make”: Abbey Road (The Beatles)

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Year: 1969

Genre: Rock

Preceded by: Yellow Submarine (1969)

Followed by: Let it Be (1970)

Related to: not available yet

 

 

When you start with Dylan, you have to come up with something great to follow up. So let’s just immediately throw the Beatles in, the world’s most famous band ever. Influenced by Dylan, and at their turn influencing the rest of he world.

Talked enough about influence, what is it worth after all if the music itself sucks? Luckily this is not the case for the ‘Fab Four’, and certainly not for this album. Although Sgt. Pepper’s and Revolver are way more often called the best Beatles albums, I would recommend Abbey Road to start with. Little irony there, as this album was the last one they recorded before breaking up (although Let It Be was released after it).

One thing that characterizes this album is that it’s a very tightly constructed one. Irony part two there, as the group was really falling apart in those days. But despite all the disputes, the band’s main songwriters Lennon and McCartney were still able to produce some fantastic material. Besides, guitarist George Harrison was exposing more and more as a brilliant songwriter. That’s why everybody will recognize famous tunes like ‘Come Together’, ‘Oh! Darling’ , ‘Here Comes The Sun’ and ‘Something’ (which was considered by McCartney as the best song ever written by Harrison), without ever having heard the complete album.

The first part of the album consists of these kind of songs, together with ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’. The Beatles opened the doors for so called progressive rock with this song, having a very unusual length and structure. The fanatical organ sounds by ‘fifth Beatle’ Billy Preston and the sophisticated bass from McCartney makes this song one of my personal favorites. Side two to the contrary, is basically one big suite of short compositions with a total duration of about 16 minutes. They were originally made for   The White Album  and Let It Be, but blended together by McCartney and Beatles producer George Martin on Abbey Road. It closes with the symbolic track ‘The End’, a song with a solo from each of the Beatles (even Ringo, his only one with the Beatles) and the following last line: “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make”. Enjoy.

Top Tracks:
1. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
2. Come Together
3. Here Comes The Sun